A BIT ABOUT THIS, A BIT ABOUT THAT.

​I hope the suggestion that Enable might stay in training as a five-year-old is not a tease. Prince Khalid does not have a reputation for keeping his best horses in training for a prolonged period, and he is not getting any younger and might want to see Enable’s offspring on the racecourse. It is why Nijinsky went to stud at the end of his three-year-old season as his owner Charles Englehard had cancer and wanted to see Nijinsky’s foals before he died. I have often bemoaned the fact that flat racing is organised to benefit the breeding industry to a greater extent than the sport and that the top studs, for whom racing offers huge financial incomes, does not put its back into carrying out its duty to reciprocate. For flat racing to stand a chance of flourishing in a competitive sporting arena the best horses must be kept in training for as long as is feasible. Owners and breeders have a responsibility that in the main they renege on. Horse racing is a sport and the sporting aspect should be given priority over the breeding side of the industry, which is not to suggest that the breeders are not vitally important to the sport, though they are pampered by there being so much emphasis put on run-of-the-mill listed and Group 3 races.
To stay with Enable. She is undoubtedly a great filly and though she was fortunate to receive a better draw than Sea of Class on Sunday this is mitigated by the fact that Enable had a troubled preparation. I believe if Sea of Class had drawn stall six and Enable was able to race throughout the season, as she did last season, the result of this year’s Arc would have been the same, though with three or four lengths between them. As much as I love her joyous way of racing, I do not believe she has yet done enough to enter the pantheon of legendary racehorses. If kept in training, she might. In fact, I would expect her to, but at the moment she is a tad short of the honour. And while I am on the subject, to blow this trumpet once more: enthusiasts of flat racing need to understand the difference between a horse that is the best of his or her generation and a true great such as of Frankel, Brigadier Gerard and Ribot. As good a performance as See The Stars and Dancing Brave put up in winning their Arcs they were receiving weight and because they were not kept in training as four-year-olds there is no way of accessing if they would have been capable of giving weight to the following year’s classic winners. Frankel, Brigadier Gerard and Ribot rose to the challenge, as has Enable.
I found satisfaction, I have to admit, in the French making a such a Horlicks of the ParisLongchamp experience. They gave us a clue as to what was to come by changing the name of the racecourse, as if in prefixing Paris to Longchamp they were removing the confusion as to where in France Longchamp was situated. And as for the supposed home of cuisine running out of food, well that was just beautiful. But to not provide enough toilets, that was embarrassing. And why was there an Arab race before the Arc? I have no problem with the promotion of Arab racing on the biggest stage of all but surely the first or last race would be more fitting. Can you imagine a similar race at Royal Ascot?
Something far more important that is bugging the life out of me is this: the tripartite agreement between Britain, Ireland and France that allows free transportation of horses between these countries. Why should Brexit bring this friendly agreement to an end when to do so would negatively impact as much on Ireland and France as it would Britain? This will be mooted as a huge problem, I predict, right up to the day we leave the E.U. and then, miraculously, it will be solved with use of commonsense and through self-interest. If there is no free movement of horses come this time next year Arc weekend will be a far quieter place as there will be far less horses running and far fewer Brits in attendance.
Finally, diversity. There has been virtually nothing in the racing press on the subject of who will step forward at Ascot next week to claim the champion lady rider prize, even though it remains a closely fought battle. It seems highly likely that Nicola Currie will be champion, a fine achievement for a female apprentice. Horse racing is changing and diversity is slowly emerging but simply claiming that diversity is a high priority and actually coming up with the talent to make it happen will require more than hyperbole. It is surprising, for example, given the large number of Muslim grooms working in yards up and down the country that there are virtually none making a name as a jockey. And although there are now a dozen or more female jockeys regularly riding winners not one of them has had a chance in a Group race this season. Diversity will only be truly achieved when talent meets opportunity. As Rachael Blackmore is proving in Ireland, you do not need a pair of testicles to be a great jockey, though it seems white skin might be a determining factor.